Ukraine-Russia battle newest: Zelensky says ‘most difficult moment in history’ as Trump units peace deal deadline

The Trump proposal was formally presented to Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Thursday by Dan Driscoll, the US Army secretary.

The plan itself was a surprise to Driscoll’s staffers, who were not aware as late as Wednesday that their boss would be going to Ukraine as part of a team to present the plan to the Ukrainians.

Army officials walked away from that meeting with the impression that the Ukrainians were viewing the proposal as a starting point that would evolve as negotiations progressed, according to a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks.

It’s unclear how much patience Trump has for further negotiation. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Trump’s new plan reflects “the realities of the situation” and offers the “best win-win scenario, where both parties gain more than they must give”.

Asked about Zelensky’s initial hesitant response to the proposal, Trump recalled the February Oval Office blow-up with Zelensky: “You remember, right in the Oval Office, not so long ago, I said, ‘You don’t have the cards.”

Ukrainian officials said they were weighing the US proposals, and Volodymyr Zelensky said he expected to talk to US president Donald Trump about it in coming days.

A US team began drawing up the plan soon after US special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Rustem Umerov, a top adviser to Zelensky, according to a senior Trump administration official who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The official added that Umerov agreed to most of the plan, after making several modifications, and then presented it to Zelensky.

However, Umerov on Friday denied that version of events.

He said he only organised meetings and prepared the talks.He said technical talks between the US and Ukraine were continuing in Kyiv.

“We are thoughtfully processing the partners’ proposals within the framework of Ukraine’s unchanging principles – sovereignty, people’s security, and a just peace,” he said.

A Ukrainian drone attack targeted energy facilities in Russia’s Samara region, killing two people in the southern city of Syzran, the region’s governor said on Saturday.

The attack was repelled by air defence forces, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev wrote on Russia’s state-backed Max messenger app.

Two more people were injured and were receiving medical care, the governor said.

Mitch McConnell lashed out at president Donald Trump’s advisers over the plans on Ukraine suggesting, “if administration officials are more concerned with appeasing Putin than securing real peace, then the president ought to find new advisors”.

“Putin has spent the entire year trying to play President Trump for a fool,” the former GOP leader said in a statement.

“Rewarding Russian butchery would be disastrous to America’s interests.”

Two people familiar with the meeting said Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s defense minister, was also in Miami early this week to discuss the plan with special envoy Steve Witkoff, reported Reuters.

One source familiar with the situation said that Witkoff told Umerov about the plan during that visit and that the United States gave the plan to Ukraine via the Turkish government on Wednesday, before directly presenting it in Kyiv on Thursday.

Umerov has described his role as “technical” and denied that he discussed the plan in substance with US officials.

Dmitriev and the Ukrainian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that any peace plan “must offer security guarantees and deterrence for Ukraine, Europe and Russia” and offer economic incentives to both Ukraine and Russia.

“This plan was crafted to reflect the realities of the situation, and to find the best win-win scenario, where both parties gain more than they must give,” she said.

Donald Trump said on Friday that he expected Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to sign onto the plan by the Thanksgiving holiday.

The US has warned Ukraine it could curb military assistance if it does not sign, Reuters has reported.

US officials and lawmakers are increasingly concerned about a meeting last month in which representatives of the Trump administration met with Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian envoy who is under US sanctions, to draft a plan to end the war in Ukraine, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The meeting took place in Miami at the end of October and included special envoy Steve Witkoff, president Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Dmitriev, who leads the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), one of Russia’s largest sovereign wealth funds.

A close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, Dmitriev has taken a leading role in talks with the US about the war and has met with Witkoff several times this year. The Trump administration has issued a special waiver to allow his entry, one senior US official told Reuters.

Dmitriev and his fund were blacklisted by the US government in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions effectively bar American citizens and companies from dealing with them.

The meeting resulted in a 28-point plan for ending the war, two people familiar with the situation said. The plan, which was made public earlier this week by Axios, came as a surprise to US officials in various corners of the administration and has stirred confusion at embassies throughout Washington and in European capitals.

It has also prompted criticism from the Ukrainians and their allies for appearing heavily tilted toward Russian interests, with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky vowing on Friday that he would not betray Ukraine’s interests.

“This so-called ‘peace plan’ has real problems, and I am highly sceptical it will achieve peace,” said Senator Roger Wicker, the Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“Ukraine should not be forced to give up its lands to one of the world’s most flagrant war criminals in Vladimir Putin.”

Wicker added that Ukraine should be allowed to determine the size of its military and Russian president Vladimir Putin should not be rewarded with assurances from the US.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said there’s “general concern and alarm that this is a Russian wish list proposal”.

European countries see their own futures at stake in Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion and have insisted on being consulted in peace efforts.

“Russia’s war against Ukraine is an existential threat to Europe. We all want this war to end. But how it ends matters,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in Brussels.

“Russia has no legal right whatsoever to any concessions from the country it invaded. Ultimately, the terms of any agreement are for Ukraine to decide.”

Donald Trump in his radio interview, pushed back against the notion that the settlement, which offers plentiful concessions to Russia, would embolden Vladimir Putin to carry out further malign action against his European neighbours.

“He’s not thinking of more war,” Trump said of Putin. “He’s thinking punishment. Say what you want. I mean, this was supposed to be a one-day war that has been four years now.”

A European government official said the US plans weren’t officially presented to Ukraine’s European backers.

Many of the proposals are “quite concerning”, the official said, adding that a bad deal for Ukraine would also be a threat to broader European security.

The official was not authorised to discuss the plan publicly and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

European Council President Antonio Costa, in Johannesburg, said of the US proposals, “The European Union has not been communicated any plans in (an) official manner.”

Volodymyr Zelensky spoke earlier by phone with the leaders of Germany, France and the United Kingdom, who assured him of their continued support, as European officials scrambled to respond to the US proposals that apparently caught them unawares.

Wary of antagonising US president Donald Trump, the European and Ukrainian leaders cautiously worded their responses and pointedly commended American peace efforts.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz, French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer assured Zelensky of “their unchanged and full support on the way to a lasting and just peace” in Ukraine, Merz’s office said.

The four leaders welcomed US efforts to end the war.

“In particular, they welcomed the commitment to the sovereignty of Ukraine and the readiness to grant Ukraine solid security guarantees,” the statement added.

The line of contact must be the departure point for an agreement, they said, and “the Ukrainian armed forces must remain in a position to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine effectively”.

Starmer said the right of Ukraine to “determine its future under its sovereignty is a fundamental principle”.